Munkey's misadventures into casting: Chapter 2

[Munkey Joe]

OK, Well Here she is..... A small Vacuum chamber for my projects



I got it on Ebay from a guy named MiniVac7 () And paid about $200 for it including shipping. Im certain I overpaid some for what I got BUT The Plexi and gasket were worth it to me PLUS the fact its ready to roll straight out of the box. SO I paid for convenience....

NOW Im winning a auction for a JB DV-200N PLATINUM 7CFM PUMP to run this and Im sure its going to be enough for me. PLUS if I win this its the SAME UNITS we use at my work so if it breaks I can just literally trade one out to use while this ones out for repair. Plus one for me....

NOW my plan for this is to Degas my silicone and resin in it as a primary, then use vac and pressure in my closed pot for casting. I got the clear plexi to see my silicone to "burp" it and when im casting in my pressure pot I have no need to see it as its already degassed and I can continue as normal. Wish me luck and I plan to be making a mold of my Knight titan () and some other little projects I need to do. I'll keep you guys in the know.

[mangozac]

Yay new toys!

Hang on a minute; that's just a cooking pot with a perspex lid!?

You're right though: as an off the shelf solution with zero mucking around $200 isn't too bad. The perspex/lexan itself isn't cheap and when you take into account the time required I don't think it would cost all that much less to DIY.

A 7CFM pump will be great for use with that and your 10L pressure pot.

You're going to cast up a household of Heinrich knight titans eh? Good call; IMO they're certainly the best of the knight titan kits out there at the moment.

[Munkey Joe]

HA Yea, it is a stewpot with a lid. I did a little number crunching and Im saving about $50-60 doing it myself BUT Im paying shipping on 4-5 packs and or I could not be sure all were the correct sizes without waiting for something to show up then measure it, and then order the next part. $50 was a good enough "penalty" to pay to have a all in one premade pot. And I know everything fits together.

And I was hoping that would be enough.... Thanks for confirming.

And Yea, Im thinking I might do a household from the titan I have. He occasionally has some for sale, but its hit or miss to find them and since I have one I thought I would throw together a household for myself. I also have 2-3 base sets Im wanting to cast up and FINALLY start on my Munkey Marines.... 40K marine stand ins using AT-43 Karmans and Marine parts....

[Arkangel]

Finally imortalise yourself in Resin Eh?

Now there's a project worth watching

Good luck buddy look forward to it. I was hoping for more of this:

Hasta

[Lane]

Eldar Beware!

[mangozac]

Monkey Marines!

[Munkey Joe]

Sorry for so long.... I have gotten my Pump in the mail and just gotten the oil to work it. I got a JB DV-200N 7CFM pump to go with this bad boy chamber...


I am getting some larger cups today from the store and will begin messin up in classic style later today or tomorrow..... Stay tuned!!

[mangozac]

I'm surprised it didn't come with oil

7CFM I think this baby is going to be great!

[Munkey Joe]

[Munkey Joe]

And Update....

Im going to Home Depot right now for some fittings to put onto my pressure pot so I can attach my vacuum to the pot. My Chamber works well, but to cast in it I might only do that for some small non important things and I need the fitting s to attach my vacuum to the pressure pot.... Silly me for not realizing it sooner!!!

SO I do not have something to show right now BUT when I have it connected I will be able to show you how it goes!!

ALSO I noticed Joel Had a VERY LARGE "slush sprue" on his parts (in the split mold thread), and I know I need some play room but is the 3x size needed for casting parts for expansion or is it "just being safe"? Im only making my part sprues right now so its not something i need for these parts but I would like NOT to mess up something that I am really needing....


Does any of this make any sense??? LMAO!!

[mangozac]

So are you going to set it up to do both vacuum and pressure successively?

The 3x part volume for the "reservoir" is a pretty standard rule of thumb. I often do a bit less (maybe 2x) but I also get overflows from time to time

It's not that critical in terms of the cast quality and you'll work it out pretty quickly

[Munkey Joe]

OK well some amazon and ebay and Home depot later and I give up....

I took the Gauge off the clear lexan and placed it on my casting pot. I have 2 Vacuum gauges that are for Cars now one from ebay and one from Amazon, neither of which will go on a pot so I took the gauge off the one I can look in and put it on the one I cant.

Here is my plan:

I vacuum degas in the Lexan pot. I watch for rise and burp as needed. once degassed (ceases to fall) I then remove it from my lexan pot and pour my mold.

I then transfer my mold to my Casting pot. I then draw 28-29 mB vacuum for several seconds (20-30??) and release vacuum and start with pressure. I pressurize it for 3-4 hours until it "gels" or so and allow to cure.

I now have a mold to cast in using the split mold method.

when casting I plan to pull 28-29 mB vacuum on the part, allowing bubbles to leave the mold, for a few seconds (again 20-30) and then switch to pressure for the remainder of cure time. then remove my new part.

My plan for casting is some shoulderpads, heads, legs and torsos for my Monkey Marines. From there doing some red scorpion stuff for my army.

NOW with this plan should I have problems (I really dont need anymore of them!!) or am I actually going into overkill??

Here is my setup currently
pot with pressure and vacuum gauges

Lexan pot with ball valve to close off missing gauge hole

vacuum

vacuum connected to lexan pot via quick connect

Vacuum connected to pot via quick connect


Notice I had to remove my Handel to allow the gauges to go on and the odd placement of my connections are to allow the closures room to spin AND more important to make the hook ups fool resistant (side is vacuum and straight is pressure)

Im hoping this goes well as I have STILL not cast a mold yet......

[mangozac]

Mate you're all set!

Degassing the silicone isn't completely necessary if you're going to be curing it under pressure (I never have), but it certainly won't hurt either. Plus since I'm not familiar with the silicone you're using then if the working time facilitates it the degassing is certainly the safest bet.

Love your setup on the pressure pot, although I will note that subjecting vacuum gauges to pressure and pressure gauges to vacuum probably isn't going to be too good for them. Depends on the way they are constructed. That's why I have selecting valves for my gauges as well as my hose connections. But for the matter of getting started it should be fine

Good luck!

[Munkey Joe]

[mangozac]